This past Friday night was the second time Dominic went to the Tim Tebow's Night to Shine Prom. For those of you that don't know what that is, I will tell you! For one night a year in February, over 700 churches from around the United States and the world host a Prom for those with differing needs. It doesn't cost a dime to attend and as long as you are at least 14 you can attend, there is no maximum age. There are dances at Dominic's high school (Homecoming, etc.) and each time I have suggested to him to go, his response has always been a resounding no. He doesn't have enough language to tell me why he doesn't want to go, so it remains a bit of a mystery. I have my own thoughts as to why - too crowded, too loud and flashing lights. A prime setup for an Epileptic seizure. He's had 10 seizures in the past 4 1/2 years. There is a memory that is seared permanently into my mind from elementary school. This would have been approximately 1973 or so. We were walking as a class in the hallway, when the Special Education classes filed past us. I remember staring, because I hardly ever saw them. Those students were kept completely separate from the classes I was in. I'm sure they didn't like being stared at, but, I truly didn't know any better. I didn't understand what I didn't know. Fast forward to 2020. My son Dominic has Autism, ADHD, Anxiety Disorder and Epilepsy and has been receiving Special Education services in school since he was three years old. He will be 16 this July. A lot has changed since the early 1970's, but there is still more that needs to be changed. The absolute worst thing you can do is keep the Special Education students separate from their typically-developing peers. The world is full of individuals of all different abilities. If you would have asked me what Autism was back in the early 1970's I would have had no clue. Little did I know, I would have a son diagnosed with Autism when he was 2 1/2. Do you know what they used to call Autism? Childhood Schizophrenia. According to a recent article in Medical News Today,
"it was not until 1980 that childhood schizophrenia became understood as a separate diagnosis - before that time, children who today would be diagnosed with Autism, which is a type of "pervasive developmental disorder" were grouped under the diagnosis of schizophrenia."
That was a year before I graduated from high school. It was not uncommon to suggest even 20 years ago that you automatically put your autistic individual into a institution. There was a mental institution called the Crownsville Hospital Center in Maryland that opened in 1911 and closed in 2004 (the year Dominic was born). The conditions that those with mental disorders lived in were beyond deplorable. It is a part of history that I'm sure many would like to forget never happened, but sadly it did. I am SO glad that in 2020, children with special needs are integrated into the "typically-developing" classrooms and there are events such as the Tim Tebow's Night to Shine Prom. When I looked around the room last Friday night, it made me wonder about some of the experiences the much older adults in the room must have had in their lifetimes. I wish I could have had the opportunity to talk to each and every one of them. I'm sure it would make me appreciate all of the possibilities that my son has now.
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